The Walking Dead: Compendium One

Robert Kirkman (Author), Charlie Adlard (Illustrator), Cliff Rathburn (Illustrator), Tony Moore (Illustrator)
1088 pages

I was introduced to the TV show “The Walking Dead” through Netflix. I saw it in the recently added section, and remember reading on Pajiba.com that many thought it was excellent. I started watching episode one after dinner, then finished the season early the next morning. I was hooked.

I was able to watch season 2 last year when it finally appeared on Netflix, but I had cheated and read the recaps on Pajiba for the episodes because, well, I wasn’t patient. A common complaint for season 2 was that the comics handled it so much better. So, I added the compilation volumes to my amazon.com wish list and waited until I felt I could splurge and get one or both.

My dear husband gave me both volumes for Christmas! So naturally, I dove in. First the artwork, I love the black and white style. It leaves enough shading that the mind can fill in all the gory details without the need to have it printed in color. The characters are fairly consistently drawn, even though I’m used to them looking different from the TV show. I found some of the paneling slightly confusing, but that could have happened in the format change from individual issues to large bound volume.

The story is excellent, starting off very similar to the TV series. But then the differences start, and oh boy, Robert Kirkman changed many, many details when he adapted his comic for television. The first volume takes our gang from the camp outside Atlanta, to the farm, to the prison and ends with the Rick and Carl on their own. Rick is still the noble sheriff, Andrea a natural sharp shooter, Maggie and Glenn becomes a couple and Carl still wears the sheriff hat.

The differences are plentiful. Shane is shot by Carl before becoming a zombie and before leaving the camp in Atlanta. Dale made it off the farm but lost his leg at the prison. Andrea and Dale are a couple and of course there are more major players like Terence and Michonne. The alterations for television have completely altered The Walking Dead from the comics.

That isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I’m finding myself equally excited for the return of season three and reading volume two. I find at times that reading a property and watching the show at the same time it can be distracting but similarities make both instances familiar while the differences define them as separate stories.

If you enjoy the show, I suggest giving the comics a try. It’s a nice way to get a The Walking Dead fix during the off season. Both are zombie entertainment at its best (except season 2 – season 2 sucked).

There is a little history to this trip. It’s similar to a vacation my family took when I was younger – in fact we visited some of the same places as I had as a kid a couple of decades ago. I wanted Lorelei to have a similar experience, and also Brad who had never been to western Oregon. We attempted to take this trip a few years ago, but something came up so we had to put it off. I’m glad that it was delayed, I don’t think Lorelei would have gotten as much experience if she were a few years younger.

Day 1: Our goal was to get from Twin Falls, Idaho to Portland, Oregon. The drive wasn’t too bad – until we got closer to Portland and we had some rain, light and heavy, occasionally. It reminded me of driving in northern Idaho. Also as we approached Portland I realized we could make a few stops and there were some attractions coming up.

As we passed John Day Dam, we decided we’d get out at the next one and check it out. That would be the The Dalles Dam.

It was… a let down to say the least. There were some nice displays and a camera feed showing the fish making their way through the ladders but nothing really cool. It was henceforth know as ‘that damn place’. What we did learn was that we really wanted to stop at the Bonneville Dam. It was on the way so we headed there next.

After a quick search of our car we were let onto the Bonneville Dam grounds. We could choose to go to the the locks where the boats make their way through, or head to the main area and try to catch the tour. Tour it was, plus it was raining so something inside sounded good. This was a much better stop. After a short presentation on how dams create power, we were guided over to the first building we we could see the generators. We also learned that if you happen to go over to the Washington side of the damn, that tour allows you inside a generator to see and touch all the components.

 

We also watched the fish climb the ladders.

We bought Lorelei an umbrella and squished some penny’s while we waited for the rain to let up so we could run to the car. Confused about the penny squishing? Check out pennycollector.com. We collect these where ever we go – they are an easy inexpensive souvenir that is easy to store and kind of fun to find and do.

Next up, Multnomah Falls (not to be confused with Klamath Falls – which it often is). The rain let up just long enough for us to trek up to the bridge and get some nice photos.

Note the wusses in our group with the umbrellas. (of course while I type this I’m in bed with a horrible cold so… yeah)

After stopping outside of Portland for dinner, we headed to our hotel. I booked a couple of nights at a nice hotel downtown. We learned that we arrived just in time for the Annual Rose Festival and Parade. And that with the street closures our car would be unavailable from 8am to 2:30pm. My initial plan was to use Portland’s public transit system, but because of the parade and activities there would be delays and confusion. We decided to get up early and get the car out of parking to head to the zoo.

Day 2: With the Parade looming we got up early and freed the car from the parking garage. Since we had a few hours to kill, we did some exploring and checked some of the bridges and the waterfront.

We noticed more streets getting closed down in preparation for the parade – so it was time to get out and head to the zoo. We still got there a little early, so we checked out the Children’s Museum. It was a nice hands on discovery center – but geared for younger kids. We did enjoy playing with the giant “Light Bright” style display.

Off to the Zoo! The Oregon Zoo has to be one of the nicest zoo’s we’ve ever been to. It’s large (took us about 6 hours to get through) and the animals are kept in large displays that offer many views. It was a cloudy and cool day – almost cold. But we really enjoyed our time there. Enjoyed it so much that we didn’t get too many photos! But here are a few…

I honestly didn’t think our feet would allow us to see everything, and Lorelei was getting quite tired – but we saw it all. They had a train ride that took us out and around the forest that was nice – and about 20 minutes long.

At the end of the day Brad’s fitbit calculated that we walked about 7 miles just in the zoo!

Before we headed back to the hotel we decided to check out one of the other buildings in the area of the zoo – the World Forestry Center Discovery Museum. This had some fun hands on displays relating to the forests and forestry industry.

We learned a few things there, but we were really tired so back to the hotel. After we found parking, we walked over to Chipotle for dinner, then (after Lorelei promised she wouldn’t complain about her feet hurting) we went to TartBerry for dessert. TartBerry is much like Kiwi Loco but with way more toppings. We managed to walk to the waterfront and check out some of the parade floats that were on display, then headed back to the hotel for the night.

I know we only scratch the surface of all the wonderful things that Portland has to offer. Maybe someday we will head back with a vacation planned just for hanging out in the city and exploring.

Day 3: Also known as “Brad’s Day”. Three air museums and the Tillamook Cheese Factory. Any guesses to which was Lorelei’s favorite stop? That’s right – cheese and ice cream are the kid’s two favorite food groups. But I’m getting ahead of myself…

First stop was the Evergreen Aviation and Space Campus. The whole campus consisted of four buildings – only two of which we visited. We didn’t go the the theater building or the waterpark. Yes, WATERPARK. I didn’t know it was there, I swear. I would have planned for it because it looked like insane fun. See, in the photo below, the airplane on the top of the building – those are water slides coming out the sides.

Brad was like a kid in a candy store when we got to the Aviation Museum building. The Evergreen’s claim to fame is that they house the Hughes H-4 “Spruce Goose”, a prototype airplane that was only flown once. It’s the largest wooden airplane ever built. Brad also got to see some other planes he’d never seen before and he really nerded out when we got to the Space Museum building and saw the SR-71 “Blackbird.”

I highly recommend these museums if you have an aviation buff in the family. Keep in mind that jokes about the B-52 “Love Shack” don’t go over very well.

Next stop was the Tillamook Cheese factory.

There was a self guided tour with displays but the big draw was the observation windows overlooking the packaging department. Or was it all the free cheese samples… yum. Or was it the squeaky cheese curds that were only sold there… yummy. We thought it was fairly busy and noted that to a cashier. We were quickly corrected that it was slow, that on peak days during tourist season there were as many as 5,000 visitors per day (which is more than population of the town of Tillamook). I’m glad we went on a ‘slow’ day.

There were two stores, one more grocery where you could by any dairy product that Tillamook makes plus some other locally produced products. Then the other store was more of a gift shop with lots of fun things. We bought a recycled ice cream bucket to use for beach combing finds. Had some ice cream, squished some pennys then off to our next stop.

Tillamook also has an Aviation Museum. It’s neat draw is that it is housed in a very large wood building that was used during the war to construct blimps. We were late getting there so we only had a half hour to visit, and we made sure to see the Super Guppy.

From there we headed to Lincoln City for the night. On the way there was an overlook where you could see the ocean. I had seen it before as a kid, but I was humbled and impressed by it. Brad was awestruck and impressed with how the view was never ending and uncluttered. Lorelei’s response was classic. “Huh, so that’s the ocean. Can I have another piece of taffy now?”

When we got to the hotel we crossed the street and went to the beach. I got my feet wet in the waves and Lorelei fell in.

Which no, I didn’t not photograph. She was okay, just shocked and cold.

Day 4: We stayed in Lincoln City, and I had planned on everyone getting up early so we could head south along the coast and visit Agate Beach. No such luck. I took advantage of my early morning and practiced yoga with the sounds of the ocean in the background – quite a treat for me. Refreshed and ready to go I kicked everyone out of their beds.

We traveled down the coast and stopped at a few viewpoints and other places of interest.

Our goal for the day was Newport and all it’s attractions. It was a busy day. We walked Agate Beach for a while, seeing some jelly fish on the shore and picking up interesting shells, rocks and wood.

In Newport we first stopped at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. They had lots of exhibits but the coolest thing was the three large aquariums that you traveled through tunnels to view them.

Next stop was one of the attractions I remembered from my childhood visit, which was the Wax Museum. Next was Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum. Both were self guided tours through things odd, silly and creepy.

I don’t think Lorelei like those too much – she has too much logical thinking in her for her to really enjoy the cheesiness of attractions like those. We also visited the Undersea Gardens which was basically an aquarium built around a glass bottom boat. They had some interesting fish.

That night at the hotel we learned three things: One, in our haste that morning we left some much needed clothing in our last hotel. Two, we missed an opportunity at Agate Beach to see the dock that had floated over from Japan. Three, none of the rocks we gathered were any form of Agate. Whoops.

Day 5: We began our day backtracking to Agate Beach. While the weather was nice and pleasant the day before, on this day it was foggy and misty. We walked the half mile or so to the dock to get a few photos.

We gathered more interesting rocks and actual agate this time. The walk to the dock wasn’t too bad, but the wind and moisture increased on our walk back. We had to head over to the rest area and change clothes and try to get dry.

We then headed back up the coast to Lincoln City and picked up the things we had left behind. We decided to head to Eugene by way of Florence.

On the way to Florence we visited the Sea Loin Caves. It was a bit of a let down, with the cold gross weather we didn’t get to go down one of the trails and the Sea Lions in the caves were huddled together and napping.

We stopped in Florence for lunch and some window shopping. For lunch we ate at the wonderful Mo’s. Highly recommend – the food is amazing. This was the one meal I knew I was going to be eating gluten – and it was wonderful. I had the fish tacos with clam chowder. The chowder was perfect and had lots of clams and potatoes. The tacos were amazing with the slaw…

…did I mention the butter? There was a pat of butter on the side of the bowl of chowder and the fish tacos had butter in the sauce…oh em gee. Everything was fresh, wonderful and buttery.

Got to Eugene and crashed in our hotel room.

Day 6: First up a visit to the Laundrymat. Not thrilling but necessary. Done with our chore, we headed to the Wildlife Safari in Winston, Oregon. Another attraction I remember from my childhood. It’s a drive through zoo basically – but the bears and hippos are still in fenced enclosures. You are not allowed to get out of your car, but we did get to see quite a few animals.

This giraffe wasn’t wanting to move away from the fence.

The safari also offered a free Wildlife Park – which is where Lorelei had the most fun. It was a mini-zoo with displays and a variety of animals. Lorelei spent a dollar to get seeds to feed the birds – she got a kick out of that. She got a big laugh out of the bird that landed on me and wouldn’t get off. I didn’t enjoy that experience at all. We also got to see a hedgehog up close and feeds some ducks.

Stayed the night in Grant’s Pass. It wasn’t too busy of a day – just lots of driving.

Day 7: Headed down to the Redwoods in California. Brad hadn’t seen these trees, and I remember seeing this forest as a kid as well. We stopped at a few places to get out of the car and stretch.

It was a good weather day – calm and cool. The attraction we stopped at is the Trees of Mystery. They have trails going through the forest and showcase some of their most wonderful giant redwoods.

It seems like they took out one of the longer and more difficult hiking trails and added what they called a Sky Trail. Basically a gondola that glides you up to the summit of the mountain for some wonderful views.

After that we had time so we stopped at Ocean World in Crescent City, California. This was probably Lorelei’s favorite place we visited. They had a small show with three harbor seals and one sea lion. They had a little routine and some tricks they did – it was super cute and fun. We then took the tour and viewed their glass boat aquarium, pet some sharks, touched some starfish then saw the show again. Lorelei love the Sea Lion – named Cora. Lorelei was disappointed that she didn’t get to pet her. We will have to take Lorelei someplace like Sea World.

Day 8: Headed home. A very long day in the car – we were able to make it to Boise. Our original plan was to visit Crater Lake but with a few of the roads closed and three feet of snow still in the park – we decided to play it safe and not go. We will have to visit there another time.

Day 9: Lorelei and I were really starting to feel crappy from our colds, but we stopped at the Co-Op and the Guitar Center. Last stop was Warming Trend where we got Brad the temperature control until for our Big Green Egg for father’s day. (a review of this until will be posted up at a later date)

Food: With my sensitivity to gluten I was worried about finding things to eat. I made sure to pack things like fruit, nuts and Larabars so I’d always have an option. I do recommend a phone app called Find Me Gluten Free. I used it to find options for restaurants – we ate at a few chain places, and then some wonderful local restaurants as well. I warned Brad that I was going to eat clam chowder – and gluten – once during the trip. I’m glad that I was able to, and glad that I only had gluten once while on vacation. I managed the feat of not only avoiding weight gain while on vacation, but also lost a little. Same with Brad!

Overall: We had a wonderful time and built some great memories! Our next big trip will be in a few years – it will be to California, D.C., or Canada.

One of my television guilty pleasures is “Castle” on ABC. Yes, it has its issues with formula episodes and sometimes rather cheesy plots, but it’s mostly just fun. I still think ABC having a ghost writer create these books is a fantastic marketing move, and “Heat Rises” is the third book of the Nikki Heat series, “written” by Richard Castle. As a tie-in to a network TV show it does its job well by referencing events and mirroring character traits. As a standalone crime novel, I found the mystery to be very compelling, although at times confusing.

We begin with Jameson Rook being gone on a long research trip, and Nikki Heat missing him but questioning the nature of their relationship. She also recently took the written portion of the Lieutenant’s exam looking for the rare promotion and pay increase. Nikki and her force are soon called to check on a murdered priest found in a bondage club.

The priest is really only a catalyst to the twisting mystery and plot lines in this novel. There is corruption, entanglements, more murder, relationships, revenge and politics playing roles in the investigation. I find the book really hits the mark when Nikki is removed from duty and partners with Rook to work the investigation unofficially. In the end loose ends are tied up (with the exception of the cliffhanger) and Nikki remembers who she works for: the Victim.

My guess is that the ghost writer of the second book returned for the third. The first Nikki Heat book, “Heat Wave” was a fun romp and fluff. These last two books have been more serious mystery novels with detailed action writing and steamy foreplay and afterglow, which remind me of the Michael Connelly books I’ve read. Even with a more serious tone the Richard Castle books are a pleasure.

I’m a big fan of Mark Bittman – his books, Minimalist videos, even his judging on Iron Chef. My first cookbook I purchased was by Bittman (How to Cook Everything) and it has been extremely helpful on my culinary self-teaching journey. This cookbook is a companion to Bittmans Food Matters book written in 2008.

Yes, I did read an entire cookbook. This is a first for me, usually I just look for specific recipes that I know would be a hit with my family. But we needed change due to my husband’s gout flares, and I really needed a change in what I prepared and ate.

The first part of the book is a 30 page primer on how the Food Matters diet came to be. Bittman was overweight, had high blood sugar and cholesterol, sleep apnea and just had knee surgery. Basically his doctor told him that he needed to figure something out. These words were echoed to my husband, and with Bittman’s help we’ve been figuring it out too.

Part two of the book covers some basics. Bittman likes to use fresh vegetables, but doesn’t think organic is necessary. While many of the recipes are vegetarian, meat can be added in variations or it is used as a “side”. There are no difficult cooking techniques or special equipment requirements for any of the recipes either, making them accessible to all.

The recipes are divided into sections: Appetizers and Snacks; Soups; Salads and Dressings; Pasta, Noodles, and Dumplings; Rice and Grains; Beans; Vegetables; Bread, Pizza, Sandwiches, and Wraps; Desserts and Sweet Snacks. Each section starts with the easier recipes first and then increases in complexity.

I have about 40 post-it notes marking recipes to make and try. So far we’ve had Fried Chickpeas (pg 63) that while good straight from the oven they didn’t make great leftovers for later snacking. The Meat-and-Grain Loafs (pg 333) went over very well with our daughter. She proclaimed them the best thing I’ve ever made, although I disagree because I make a mean rack of ribs. But with only two ounces of meat per serving and loaded with grain (we used quinoa) and spinach I’m happy to make it for her whenever she’d like.

I’ve always been a refried bean fan and the Refried Black Bean recipe on pg 354 turned out wonderfully. Now, I did use bacon fat that I rendered and accidently added too much cumin, but pairing this with rice and topping it with sour cream diced tomatoes for a fairly healthy lunch worked extremely well. I just need more ideas on what to do with refried beans other than with rice, on nachos or in tacos.

My husband and daughter prepared the Spicy Carrot Cake on page 558. It didn’t turn out to be a spiced as we’d like but it was a very easy carrot cake to make. It turned out very moist and yummy.

If you are looking for help altering your diet to include more vegetables, less meat, more grains, less fat – this cookbook is great resource. I hope to make all 40 recipes I’ve marked, and then I will pick 40 more to try. I don’t know if I will ever make all 500 recipes, but I’ve read them all.

I picked this book up for cheap at Costco around the holidays. The last book I read by Connelly wasn’t bad and I enjoy a decent bestseller (especially after reading heavy content like The Organic Manifesto) so I thought of this book as a pellet cleanser of sorts.

Jack McEvoy is a reporter who covers death, wanting to know about it at all angles to write up a fantastic story for the news. “Death is my beat” reads the first line of the novel. But then everything in Jack’s life is turned upside down and shoved into his face. His twin brother was just found dead, alone in his car at Bear Lake. It looks like suicide, but Jack doesn’t believe it.

He’s right of course, not much of a story if it wasn’t murder. The suicide note that was found in the car turned out to be a calling card, quoted text from Edgar Allen Poe’s works. Jack plays detective in an investigation that soon involves the FBI, a child pornographer, a romantic entanglement and a demented murderer.

Connelly writes great thrilling, quick paced, developed novels. The Poet is a recommended read if you like this type of book.

(But ignore the introduction by Stephen King – I wonder if he actually read the book, because I didn’t find it “genuinely terrifying” or needing to read it “with all the lights on”. )

In elementary and junior high school I remember reading every “Choose Your Own Adventure” book I could get my hands on. You choose actions or inactions had they had true consequences on the story outcome. Well, if you were honest and didn’t peek at both options then choose. I remember there were a few excellent ones where I did read through to try and get all the endings. The “Choose Your Own Adventure” books are a very fond memory in my childhood.

I’m guessing that’s what Amazon decided to try to bank on with the “Interactive Fiction Game”. With Dusk World the idea of choosing an adventure is still there, but without the true freedom of choice. There are sections where you have to do things in a certain order, and certain way or you will not proceed. It can be quite frustrating.

The main character you play is Agent Patriot and the book (term used loosely) opens with you in a prison cell framed for murdering your former partner. Agent Patriot and most characters are “super humans” with abilities. You can leech the power of another and are a master of disguise. Once a criminal, then a war hero, and now a victim of a frame up, you want to clear your name and find out whom really killed your friend.

Content wise, the story is really weak. Backstory is inserted in odd places and I didn’t really feel connected to Dusk City as I explored it looking for clues. Some characters were convenient with their powers, like oh, I need someone who can make it rain… and there they are! For a game, it was horrible. I avoided anything considered an action sequence. We are talking about Kindle here, not a DS or Playstation, but it was still lacking.

Dusk World is an interesting concept on the Kindle, and hopefully Amazon can get some good writers to create a much better story to carry the interaction forward. I’m glad I bought it on sale, because I was truly disappointed.

Organic Manifesto: How organic farming can heal our planet, feed the world, and keep us safe
by Maria Rodale

We have poisoned our soil, our water and our children. Chemical farming has damaged our earth and our livelihood. The shift from organic farming to chemical farming was fueled by fear and money. While the transition from organic to chemical is easy, it’s difficult to reverse.

Maria Rodale has written and excellent, clear and emotionally charged manifesto explaining the history of chemical farming, proclaiming the evils of chemical corporations and backing it up with evidence of how chemicals are damaging. After reading this book, I am now more convinced than ever that it is important to eat organic as much as possible.

There are many benefits to organic farming, gardening and living organically. If chemical farming could be reduced to a minimum level the climate crises would immediately reduce significantly. Consider not just the chemicals applied to fields, but the fuel it takes for those chemicals to be applied with as well as the fuel used to deliver the chemical to the farmers. Without chemicals, soil condition would improve and regain it’s nutrients and ability to absorb water. Organic farming would reduce chemicals, reduce fuel use, and reduce water use.

Personal health is another benefit. Rodale highlights studies that have discovered that farming chemicals make it to our dinner tables – and that is a very scary thought. Various farming chemicals have been linked to cancer, miscarriages, diabetes, autism and many other major health conditions. If paying more for my food is an option to keep me and my family healthy, then it’s a fair trade off.

Organic farming is a more economical method of farming when compared to chemical farming. The only way that chemical produce costs less than organic is farm subsidies from the government. Organic farms do not benefit nearly as much from government programs. Chemical companies have an unfair hold over chemical farmers from seeds to store.

Rodale’s manifesto reads like propaganda, because it is. She is passionate about the organic way of life and has lived it all of hers. Her father founded the Rodale Institute, where they study benefits of organically grown produce and do control tests of chemical vs organic soil. I found the Organic Manifesto a very informative, clearly written, and passionately delivered read. I recommend it to anyone who would like more insight on the organic way of life.

For the Cannonball Read I managed to start strong and then teeter off. Reading and reviewing a book a week is an amazing feat – and congrats to all those that finished! My finished reviews are as follows:

01 - The Keeper by Sarah Langan

02 – Heat Wave by Richard Castle

03 – Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich

04 – a painted house by John Grisham

05 – American Gods by Neil Gaiman

06 – The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon

07 – Severance Package by Duane Swierczynski

08 – Food Matters by Mark Bittman

09 – Deeper than the Dead by Tami Hoag

10 – Playing for Pizza by John Grisham

11 – The Mark by Jason Pinter

12 – Grow Great Grub by Gayla Trail

13 – The Wheelman by Duane Swierczynski

14 – Mr. Murder by Dean Koontz

15 – The Long Fall by Walter Mosley

16 - An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England by Brock Clarke

17 – Honey, I Wrecked the Kids… by Alyson Schafer

My unreviewed books are:

18 – the Abs Diet: 6 Minute Meals for 6-Pack Abs by David Zinczenko – This is a quick primer to the Abs Diet with many quick recipes to mesh with the guidelines.  Abs Diet is basically like every other sensible diet -but just more OCD. Zinczenko knows his stuff and the book is worth a look sometime at Barnes and Noble to see if the recipes would work for you. Many feature the microwave – and I cannot bring myself to microwave an egg. I’m not in that big of a hurry.

19 – Echo Park by Michael Connelly – Connelly is excellent at the craft of crime fiction. This is the first book of the Harry Bosch series I’ve read, although far from the first written. The book won be over enough I will read more of Connelly.

20 – In The Flesh by Clive Barker – Creepy short fiction stories by Barker. Maybe even creepier than King – Maybe.

21 – Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer by John Grisham – An excellent legal thriller aimed at tweens. An easy read for adults, it kept both me and my daughter entertained.

22 – Blockade Billy by Stephen King – Short blah stories written by King.

23 – Naked Heat by Richard Castle – A very solid addition to the Heat series. My feeling was that there was a different ghost writer this time because the book didn’t feel as light and fun as the TV series – and the last one did. A longer novel for sure, but the writing was…  different. I’m not saying that the change was a bad thing, again it was a very solid crime thriller. I just missed the fun.

24 – The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen – This is the first of a series of books featuring the characters from Rizzoli & Isles on TNT. Well, this book just featured Jane Rizzoli – and she wasn’t even the main character. The book was mostly from Detective Thomas Moore’s perspective. Hoyt, Rizzoli’s arch, is the feature and the book does enlighten the past events brushed over on the series. Gerritsen’s writing is very detailed, the scenes very vivid, but I found the characters to be lacking. This was her first novel and it looks like she has written many more. But much like Dexter, I find I need to choose between book and television version of the characters.

I’m participating in Cannonball Read III! I’m signed up for half a ‘ball. We begin again on the first of January! Read more about it and sign up here.

I have a four (almost five) year old daughter, Lor, who is very much determined to be smarter than me, and independent only on occasion. My husband and I have been baffled and frustrated at her behavior. We didn’t understand why the sticker chart worked awesome for four months but then became unnecessary (her word). She would go from independently bathing herself one week to crying because she couldn’t start the water the next. After 6 months of being driven crazy with so many ups and downs with Lor, we were baffled about what to do.

Thank you, Alyson Schafer, for writing Honey, I Wrecked the Kids. When Yelling, Screaming, Threats, Bribes, Time-outs, Sticker Charts and Removing Privileges All Don’t Work. Schafer is one of Canada’s (and USA’s) leading parenting experts. I found this book on amazon.com but only purchased it after reading the review on boingboing.net.  Sounded just like what I needed..

Schafer’s goal is to teach a parenting style that focuses away from rewards and discipline. Under practice that’s easier said than done. I grew up with both rewards (monetary reward for good grades, the better the grade the better the monies) and discipline (grounding, spanking, sentence writing, excess chores, etc) and survived. No parent is perfect, and we do the best we can with what we know. And while I came out okay, the methods that worked on me were not working on my daughter – I needed some new tools. A main difference of thought that Schafer presents, is that you don’t want to create an obedient child but a child that can be a problem solver, independent functioning, and to create an family environment where children can make decisions.

The main message is that if we change our ways, as parents, the children will change theirs. The beginning chapters focus on our reactions to situations – what we say, what we do, and what we don’t – and how we feel. These help determine what our child’s goal is when they misbehave. There is a super handy chart at the end of Chapter Three that neatly organizes goals versus feelings. The following chapters then delve into each goal, and how we can combat it: Attention, Power, Revenge, and Avoidance. Chapter Eight introduces the concept of family meetings. I’m eager to begin this family exercise, and should help Lorelei feel more included in our activities and decisions.

The whole book is a must read. Even if you don’t have a Revenge or Avoidance seeking child, both those chapters contain insight into other issues. I plan on re-reading this book with a highlighter and flag pen handy. I’ve learned that Lorelei is mostly Power driven in her acts right now (which means that she is wanting more responsibility and decision making choices), and that my current mixed bag of reactions really has only made us all more frustrated. Watching my interactions with Lor have help me realize that I tend to discourage her (which is a common parenting tactic) and she lashed back with her own methods of attack. I hope by learning and using the methods presented by Schafer, I will change my ways and Lorelei can feel connected, capable, counted and courageous (The 4 necessary C’s as Schafer calls them). I have had a success so far – on the bathing thing: by letting Lor choose a regular bath time (she decided to bathe right after dinner) she has been doing it on her own again for a few weeks. That lets us clean up the kitchen and then enough time to always have a story before bed. Which in turn, Lor gets to sleep earlier so she can get up earlier so we are not rushed in the morning so no one is late….. you get the idea. We all feel better.

“Kids who feel good – do good. Kids who feel bad – do bad.” – Dr. Jane Nelson

You know those pesky birds that run on the ground, beep and chirp at you and really try very hard to get you to follow them? Well, those are killdeer and they live in our neighborhood. We’ve tried for years to find eggs or see the little newly hatched fuzz balls – but we’ve never found them. But today, they found us.

There are four little ones, and boy they can run fast right out of the gate. It’s funny when you spook the family – everyone of them runs as fast as they can in a different direction. I did scare them when trying to get photos, so they aren’t quite ready to come back into our yard. Right now they are hanging in the gravel of the neighbor’s driveway, I can watch them from my office window. Hopefully I can get out and try to get more photos when it stops raining.

It’s neighborhood wildlife fun?